The Gift That Keeps On Giving
by Dreaming-Of-A-Nightmare
Summary: For Christmas, Jamie is finally able to give Jack a present in return for all of Jack's Christmas gifts in the past. But what he doesn't expect is Jack's gift for this year. .:. Slash. Like, makeouts and stuff. No worries; Jamie's seventeen, so it's all good. Oh, and cheesy love confessions are in here too.


"Come on, sweetie, or we're going to be late," his mother beckons, and with a sigh, Jamie ceases drawing in the frosty window of his living room. He stands, zips up his coat, slips on his shoes, and then tugs on his glove as he walks out the front door.

He and Sophie load into the car, and their parents remind them to buckle up before his father pulls out of the driveway.

The church is vast, echoing, beautiful. Jamie sings along to the songs he knows, and looks in the booklet for the lyrics of the ones he doesn't. Then he listens to the Christmas Eve sermon, bored out of his wits, and doodles in the margins of the handout with half a crayon he finds in the Bible holder of the pew in front of him.

When they finally leave the church and head over to his grandmother's house for the traditional holiday party that follows, Jack snags some sugar cookies and eggnog and munches and slurps lazily, waving at his older cousins before dusting the crumbs from his red sweater and slipping his coat on.

Outside, the world is frozen and white and dark, the sun having gone down during the singing portion of the service. He moves to gazebo in the back of his grandmother's large property, emitting puffs of white mist as he glances around in the dark.

Jamie jerks into attention when an icicle falls and shatters from the rim of the gazebo roof, followed soon by another. He smiles.

"I can hear you stepping on the roof, Jack. You're not _that _silent."

"Rats, foiled again!" comes Jack Frost's answer, and he flips down from the top, landing softly with the winter breeze. He pads across the snow, bare footprints not sinking deeper than the crusted layer on top, and he enters the gazebo and takes a casual seat beside the human boy. "Merry Christmas, Jamie. I brought you something."

Jamie fists the package in his coat pocket. "Heh. Me too."

Jack eyes him, playful half-smile growing on his lips. "Yeah? You didn't have to, you know."

"Yeah, but you've gotten me something every year since I was a kid," Jamie replies softly. "This year, I finally had money from my part-time job to get you something in return."

The years prior, Jack's gifts were simple things; twice it was an extra day off of winter break due to a snow day, thrice all of Jamie's snowmen and snow-animals brought to life to play for a while, a snow globe made of real ice and snow that didn't melt until June, a snowflake necklace pendant Jack designed out of ice that North's yetis made real (one that Jamie wears on a piece of string under his shirts at all times, metal warmed by his skin just over his heart), a new bobsled, a new on-the-go art kit, and last year, Jack got him a new compass, a nice brass one that is never wrong.

"A job? Wow. Yeah, you're seventeen now, aren't you? You would have one… That's great, Jamie. Congrats. What do you do?"

"I'm just a cashier," Jamie shrugs, glancing down, "And only for the local grocery store. I ring up food five days a week, after school." He peers up at the ceiling of the gazebo, exhaling more mist into the night. "I graduate this spring."

Jack whistles. "You're growing up. Big time. I'm shocked you still believe in me, to be honest."

Jamie grins when he glances over. "How can I not? You're right here in front of me. We hang out every winter, I hug you goodbye, and you drop letters by my window during the summer when you should be busy with winter elsewhere. It's all proof that you're solid and real, so why wouldn't I believe? I don't even need to 'believe' anymore, really; at this point, it's just _fact_."

Jack chuckles warmly at that. He can't take his eyes off of Jamie, and Jamie smiles sheepishly and flushes not with cold, unable to hold Jack's gaze. Then Jack murmurs, "Guess I made the right decision about your gift this year, then. But first, can I have yours to me? I'm brimming with curiosity, to be honest. If roles were reversed, I'm not sure what I would give an immortal winter sprite. But hey, you're ten times smarter than I am, so I know whatever it is, I'll love it."

Jamie huffs a laugh, inhaling the sharp cold. "Yeah, I… had a hard time thinking of something for that reason. But I think I found something you might like." He removes the small, messily wrapped package and hands it over to his Guardian. "Here you go. Merry Christmas, Jack Frost."

Jack quirks a brow, but he excitedly takes the proffered gift from Jamie's gloved hand and tears into it, wrappings being stuffed into his hoodie pocket. It's a small indigo box underneath, and curiously, with a glance toward Jamie, he removes the lid.

"It's an artic watch. Like, the ones they use in Antarctica on excursions. It can withstand like any amount of cold and is solar-powered and changes time by satellite with each time zone it enters. That way, no matter where you are or how cold it is, you know what time it is. And there's always a smaller clock in the corner that tells you the time of a place of your choosing. I chose Burgess already, but you can change it if you want. But you call Burgess home, so… the smaller clock is in Burgess time, even if the main clock will change as you go across the world," Jamie explains in a rush as Jack looks over the watch and thumbs its face, moving to strap it securely to his left wrist.

He finds that he likes the weight of it, and he smiles brightly at the smaller clock in the corner. It currently matches the large clock in time, but in a few hours, he'll be somewhere else, and it will read something different. It's brilliant.

"This is perfect, Jamie. Thank you so much," Jack whispers, and he adds, "I shudder to think how much of your own money you saved and spent on this. It seems really special…"

Jamie shrugs. "It kind of is. I mean. I had to order it online and stuff. But it wasn't too bad, price-wise… I got a deal on it, and wasn't really using my money for anything else. I'm getting financial aid and student loans for college that will cover my classes and books, and my mom still buys my clothes and food and pays my bills, save for my gas money. So I had plenty to spare. Plus, that's a gift that will last you, like, forever. So it's money well-spent, if you ask me."

Jack laughs at that. "Fair enough." He looks to the brunet apologetically. "Now I feel like my gift is lame. It doesn't cost a whole lot. Er, well, none of your gifts really do; I either have used my powers or mooched off of North in the past, since I don't have money, but… yeah, I dunno. This one's not even tangible."

"Neither are snow days, but they are a gift nonetheless," Jamie shrugs. "So come on, give it to me. I want to know what it is now, more than ever!" and he chuckles, breathless, and Jack raises his hands in defeat.

"All right, all right… Here it comes. I hope you like it. If not, I'm awful sorry in advance," the sprite answers, and after a deep breath, he slides nearer to Jamie and angles his body, and the next thing Jamie knows, surprisingly warm hands of at least sixty degrees are on his cold-numbed cheeks, and a slightly warmer mouth (around sixty-five; seventy, maybe?) is covering his own, and Jamie just barely remembers to close his eyes and melt into the kiss before Jack is pulling away again. "…There's more, but… is that welcomed, or not?"

"Definitely welcomed," Jamie breathes. He shakes his head in disbelief, smiling. "How are you so warm? I mean, still not as warm as a human, but normally you're freezing; like fifty or forty degrees, give or take. Sometimes as cold as freezing, or below zero, when you're really mad and start a blizzard."

"I figured out how to control my temperature," Jack replies with a proud smile. "To make it like a late-winter, early-spring day. And it's all because I realized something kinda obvious."

"…What's that?" Jamie asks, heart speeding up in his chest.

"Well, um. That I love you, and that love kind of… warms me up, I dunno. It sounds really cheesy out loud," Jack replies awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck.

Jamie laughs and covers his face with his hands. Dropping them, he answers with a heavy blush as he hides behind his scarf, "Yeah, uh… it sounds really cliché like that, but I think I understand. And in a weird way, it makes sense." He smiles fondly and touching Jack's hand with his own. "And for the record… I love you, too. I have for quite some time, I think. I was just afraid you wouldn't feel the same, all-considering."

"Well, then I don't feel half as stupid for saying it. Thanks," Jack chuckles, and after a pause, he inches closer again and cups one side of Jamie's face, thumb stroking over his cheekbone. "So, can I give you the rest of your Christmas present now?"

"Definitely," Jamie nods eagerly and closes his eyes, leaning forward. Jack exhales, shivering lightly, and controls his body temperature as he, too, leans in again. He molds his mouth around Jamie's and sucks his bottom lip, lightly chapped and warm. He places his other hand at Jamie's waist, fingers playing over the fabric of Jamie's coat before slipping under the hem and brushing over his shirt over his navel.

Jamie squirms and leans into the touch, tongue flicking out to meet Jack's as he brings his arms up around Jack's neck, one gloved hand playing idly with Jack's silvery-white hair. He deepens the kiss further as he feels Jack's hands – the one on Jamie's face haven fallen away and joined the other under his coat – unzip his coat under his scarf and press closer, hands feeling out Jamie's chest and ribs and stomach and back over his shirt, thumbs brushing purposely over Jamie's cold-hardened nipples, and Jamie lets out a small gasp and turns his face away from Jack's to press into Jack's neck.

Jack's arms encompass him and slide up under his shirt, Jack's blunt nails gliding gently upward on either side of his spine. Jamie sighs and arches his back, chest leaning firmly into Jack's as he breathes beside Jack's ear, his own hands clumsily stripping of his gloves until they are sliding down Jack's back and lifting up his hoodie, feeling out the cool, smooth planes of Jack's skin with his bare fingertips.

The winter spirit nuzzles Jamie's throat and plants kisses there, down to his collarbones, and back up to nip his ear. His hands come around front to gently ease Jamie down onto the bench of the gazebo, and then Jack is straddling Jamie's waist and keeping him caught between being comfortable and a little chilly as he reflects the cold around them and keeps his body as warm as it will go.

He lifts Jamie's shirt, his coat open and scarf askew, and he mouths down Jamie's torso and feels Jamie's hand tighten in his hair, the other running up Jack's front to feel his skin and tease a nipple. Jack hums his approval and leans up to kiss Jamie again, fully, and Jamie clutches Jack to him like he never wants to let go, and he continues kissing and touching Jack for a while, not stopping until he's shivering violently and has to do up his coat and put on his gloves again.

"Jamie, are you out here?" comes a voice from the deck, and Jamie pushes Jack up with him, bolting upright, and he is suddenly glad that no one can see Jack except for him, because then no one needs to know that he was just making out with another boy. He has yet to tell his parents that tidbit of himself, and he'd rather not get into it on Christmas.

"Y-yeah, Auntie, just a minute."

"Make it a short minute, young man! It's dinner time and you'll catch a cold out here!"

Jack snickers and fixes Jamie's hair and clothes while Jamie converses across the yard with his aunt. "You already caught something cold," he jokes, and Jamie shoots the teen in front of him a reprimanding glare before shouting back that he'll be right in.

"I have to go. But if there's more to my present that we can do in my room later, after I get home…" Jamie suggests quietly, ears burning with embarrassment.

Jack grins wickedly and strokes Jamie's upper thigh teasingly, and Jamie bites his lip to hold in a groan. "I wasn't sure what I could get away with, but hey, yeah, if you want more, there's plenty to this gift that I can keep giving."

"Oh, good," Jamie smiles, and after one more quick kiss after standing up and bending down, the brunet dashes off, and Jack paces casually out of the gazebo, hands in his hoodie pocket, twisting the wrapping of his watch, empty box left on the bench behind him. He hops up to the roof, retrieves his staff, and not three hours later, he's slipping in through Jamie's unlocked window, waiting on his bed as Jamie walks in through his bedroom door.


End file.
